Lasting Inequality
A new paper by Colgate economist Michael R. Haines uses infant and childhood mortality rates to trace inequality in the U.S. in the 20th century. Haines reaches an interesting conclusion:…
A new paper by Colgate economist Michael R. Haines uses infant and childhood mortality rates to trace inequality in the U.S. in the 20th century. Haines reaches an interesting conclusion:…
What does it mean to pursue something that everyone else thinks is nuts? And what does it take to succeed?
Every year, Americans short the I.R.S. nearly half a trillion dollars. Most ideas to increase compliance are more stick than carrot — scary letters, audits, and penalties. But what if…
…a child when the kid loses a tooth. Tagliamonte’s son lost his first tooth when he was nearly seven; the parents didn’t know how much to pay, so they asked…
It used to be that making documentary films meant taking a vow of poverty (and obscurity). The streaming revolution changed that. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler talks to Stephen Dubner about…
…keep their kids in school, like this one: Oregon schools offer free cars to entice kids to class Monday, September 18, 2006 Associated Press – Idaho News PHOENIX, Ore. —…
…than before, from the biggest issues (negotiating a new Collective Bargaining Agreement) to the smaller (introducing its own line of N.F.L. merchandise in lower-end stores like Walgreens and Kroger). Atallah,…
On the football field, as in nearly every arena in life, the punishment doesn’t always fit the crime. James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers has become the poster child for…
…sense to subsidize women who were going to give up babies for adoption? I think maybe it does. There are large numbers of parents who want to adopt, and a…
Everyone agrees that massive deforestation is an environmental disaster. But most of the standard solutions — scolding the Brazilians, invoking universal morality — ignore the one solution that might actually…
When Stephen Dubner learned that Dallas–Fort Worth will soon overtake Chicago as the third-biggest metro area in the U.S., he got on a plane to find out why. Despite getting…
Photo: ceeb Inside a Los Angeles bus. In the last posts, we learned that Los Angeles is not a poster child for sprawl, that the air has gotten a lot…
I’ve been a dad now for a little less than two years, and I’m still trying to figure out how it is shaping my approach to economics. I think the…
Tania Tetlow, a former federal prosecutor and now the president of Fordham University, thinks the modern campus could use a dose of old-fashioned values….
…pizza is more expensive, and fewer children may want to eat it. Hence many school districts walk a tightrope. School districts must increase the health content of their sales while…
Security guards make malls feel safer, but what can they do when there’s trouble? Zachary Crockett observes and reports….
…Please could you expand a bit your answer? – Moggio A. Sure. So we think our book has important implications for the industries like music, film, and publishing, that have…
Kidney failure is such a catastrophic (and expensive) disease that Medicare covers treatment for anyone, regardless of age. Since Medicare reimbursement rates are fairly low, the dialysis industry had to…
Abraham Verghese is a physician and a best-selling author — in that order, he says. He explains the difference between curing and healing, and tells Steve why doctors should spend…
The dean of Yale’s School of Management grew up in a small village in Guyana. During his unlikely journey, he has researched video-gaming habits, communicable disease, and why so many…
…reform: And there were also terrific papers by?Tom Dee and?Brian Jacob,?evaluating No Child Left Behind, and?Jim Hines‘ analysis of the role that state fiscal policies play in offsetting a recession….
…parents are 36% more likely to have a baby daughter as their first child than a baby son — which suggests, evolutionarily speaking, that beauty is a trait more valuable…
It boosts economic opportunity and social mobility. It’s good for the environment. So why do we charge people to use it? The short answer: it’s complicated. Also: We talk to…
…findings of my academic research with Roland Fryer, which found no impact of a child’s name on her life. Now, from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, we have the story of three…
We worship the tradition of handing off a family business to the next generation. But is that really such a good idea?
…American jobs. These numbers seem truly dire: a $250 billion per year loss would be almost $800 for every man, woman, and child in America. And 750,000 jobs – that’s…
…close the book with a broader examination of the main themes and lessons and a brief look at the music business, which is perhaps the poster child for the (often…
…attendance, but we know little about how these investments shape postsecondary achievement. Two theoretical frameworks suggest diametric conclusions. Some studies operate from a more-is-more perspective in which children use calculated…
…on her blog, the pet list overlaps heavily with the same year’s 100 most popular children’s names in England and Wales (a list that differs somewhat from the boys’ name…
…they’ve done research already, i.e. “I like Agency x and Agency y, which do you think would look after their girls better?” as opposed to “do you think I can…
